Published: 03/01/2020
On Monday, February 24th, 2020, Betsy Dirksen Londrigan held a meet-&-great with the Champaign County Young Democrats. Things did not go according to plan, however, when four activists from Central Illinois decided to protest her.
Londrigan is currently running to be the democratic candidate against incumbent republican Rep. Rodney Davis of Illinois’ 13th Congressional District. Her opponent in the democratic primary is a political novice, Stefanie Smith. Betsy is considered the more moderate choice with center-left liberal policies, while Stefanie is clearly a Leftist. This is Londrigan’s 2nd campaign, narrowly losing to Rodney Davis in 2018.
When activists initially attempted to make contact with Londrigan (before any protest had even begun) the activists say she was shuttled by her staff out the door where an SUV was waiting to drive her away. When activists realized she was leaving, they followed the nearly thirty people shuttling Londrigan to her car. At this point is where a widely viewed Facebook Live video began, showing activists begin to demonstrate against the candidate. They shouted,“Why won’t you support Medicare 4 All?”, “Where’s Betsy?” and asked “Why she would not do any debates”, with her primary opponent Stefanie Smith.1 By the time the activists reached the SUV, Londrigan was safely in the passenger seat with a driver, while her staff attempted to dissuade the protesters from persisting… Nevertheless, they did in fact persist. The four activists placed themselves near Londrigan’s SUV acting as human shields preventing her immediate departure and continued chanting. At no point did they directly touch the vehicle and remained several feet away. Londrigan staff members continued attempts to abate this protest, but protesters stood firm in their positions. One Londrigan staff member can be seen walking to the passengers side to advise Londrigan on the best way for the vehicle to maneuver itself, in order to drive off. Within thirty seconds, of blocking the vehicle, protesters moved away allowing the vehicle to drive Londrigan away. The whole incident lasted about one minute.
This video was livestreamed on Facebook on the ‘Where’s Betsy’ Facebook Page, a ‘group’ apparently unaffiliated with the Stefanie Smith campaign.2 The Where’s Betsy page maintained they were engaging in a non-violent civil disobedience in conformity with their 1st amendment rights. The video has been viewed over 2500 times and was eventually picked up by news stations like WCIA Champaign as well as Fake News Stations like Diane Benjamin’s blog and even Breitbart.com. The MSM media titled the news story “Bernie Sanders Supporters Stalk, Harass Democratic Congressional Candidates”. Liberals & conservatives quickly coalesced around a narrative of out-of-control Bernie Bros. “Not a nonviolent protest. That was menacing, harassment, and detainment of a woman, alone, at night.” said one Facebook commentator. Another Bernie supporter described the action as, “led by a loud and aggressive man, who ambushed a woman on the street and then trapped her in her car. This is abusive behavior by your supporters.” Another accused the group of “blocking the car and attempting to break through the window.” The Republican Incumbent Rep. Davis went so far as to compare the activists to James Hodgkinson who committed a mass shooting at a practice for the 2017 Congressional Baseball Game for Charity. Hodgkinson was fatally wounded in the attack but not before injuring Republican Majority Whip Steve Scalise and three others.
Even fellow progressives have piled on describing the action as reprehensible and not a true act of civil disobedience. They fed on the “criminal Bernie Bros” narrative and upchucked a bevy of criminal accusations. Why exactly have we progressives allowed the likes of Rodney Davis and Breitbart news to frame the narrative? A careful review of the video shows what I’ve stated above, Londrigan was completely surrounded by her staff and none of the 4 protesters ever attempted to touch Londrigan. Though they did block her car for about thirty seconds, they all stood several feet away and no one touched her car. You can even see Londrigan smiling in the video.
When we use language like ‘stalking’, ‘menacing’, ‘intimidation’, etc. we inflate what actually occurred; how is this different from when conservatives call immigrants “illegal aliens” inflating the administrative violation of unlawful entry with serious crimes like rape & murder? This was, whether we like it or not, a nonviolent form of civil disobedience. It is not meant to cause physical harm, but it is also not meant to win hearts & minds: civil disobedience is meant to cause us to feel uncomfortable about the issues being protested. We don’t protest for feel goods, we protest to make society face the shock of injustice. We need little old ladies writing letters to congress, and people taking time to lobby, just as much as we need the person willing to protest in the streets. We need a diversity of tactics.
At the end of the day, we progressives know who these protesters are. They are trained in non-violent civil disobedience. These are the same people who shut down a Rodney Davis fundraiser to advocate Medicare4All, the same people that marched through the streets of Dwight, IL to prevent an immigrant detention center from being built, the same people who held a hunger strike at City Hall; does anyone in the progressive community actually believe they went to this event with criminal intent or to do Betsy any harm? Does anyone really believe they went there for any other reason but to non-violently express their opinions to a recalcitrant politician?
You may disagree with the reasons these protesters chose to bring up with Londrigan (I know I do). You may think that these methods were inappropriate for the situation or that Londrigan is not someone we should be protesting. That’s perfectly fine. But don’t fall into the reactionary language trap by inflating civil disobedience with criminal intent. The equivocation of a non-violent protest, where no one was hurt and the only weapons used were words (yes, loud words) with criminal intent is the truly stunning fetishization of respectability by centrists. When we do that, we cede the narrative to re-territorialization by reactionary voices like Rodney Davis & Diane Benjamin who support far worse kinds of institutional violence that occurs from our for-profit healthcare system or the literal violence against immigrants being kidnapped, raped, imprisoned, and tortured.
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